CH 5

Blue Tiger, real name Lim Hyunsoo.

A genius composer who had a talent in keeping up with the trends while still sticking to the basics. In addition, he had recently decided to start writing songs as well, leading to him building a reputation for his witty lyrics.

He was a walking box-office check, and money piled up in his bank account… 

‘But I don’t fucking care about that.’

Because he was in a bad mood right now.

He was currently writing the title track song for the next comeback of the top girl group White Cherry, which was famous not only in Korea but also in the United States.

However, because the chorus didn’t end up the way he wanted it to, he kept rewriting it over and over.

Whenever this happened, Lim Hyunsoo became extremely sensitive, so the studio staff would cautiously avoid him.

But why today?

“Hey, didn’t I say not to let strangers in?”

An outsider was inside the studio!

The staff trembled and glanced at the man sitting in the studio lobby. The man, who seemed to be in his early 20s at best, seemed to be as sensitive as Lim Hyunsoo.

They wondered what kind of celebrity he was since he was handsome, but they couldn’t recall seeing him on TV.

“Hello. I’m Seo Hoyoon.”

“Who?”

“Seo Hoyoon.”

The man greeted him with a brazen smile. The staff trembled.

He’d never heard of him before. Lim Hyunsoo looked at him coldly and turned towards the employee.

“I’m leaving.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Wait, let me talk to you for a second.”

Where are you going? I spoke to Lim Hyunsoo and grabbed him, who then turned around. Lim Hyunsoo looked back at me irritably.

“Excuse me, I don’t know who you are, but I’m busy right now.”

“Yes, I know. This won’t take long.”

“I said I don’t have time for that.”

Lim Hyunsoo still had quite a temper. I looked at the system window floating above Lim Hyunsoo.

[Lim Hyunsoo, genius composer.

Sometimes also writes lyrics.

Note: He has a very, very nasty temper.]

I knew that, too. I’ve worked with Lim Hyunsoo so many times, how could I not know that? Getting cursed at to my face for doing something wrong was not something that had only happened once or twice.

Seeing Lim Hyunsoo, who trembled as if he hated me while looking at me up and down, it seemed like he really didn’t remember. Realizing I really was in a parallel world, I held out the shopping bag that I brought.

“What’s this?”

Lim Hyunsoo was taken aback by the sudden appearance of the shopping bag. I didn’t let this chance pass.

“Composer, I heard you like this kind of Hokkaido sake. I searched around and got it.”

“Huh? This.. is hard to find in Korea.”

Hyunsoo took out the sake from inside the shopping bag and twisted it around. I could tell from his raised face that he was very pleased even if he didn’t say it out loud.

Yes, he should be pleased. It was hard to get that.

Hyunsoo was wary of me, but he accepted the gift. He seemed to be pretending to hate it because he was wondering what I would ask for under this pretext.

“Why are you giving this to me?”

“Composer, since I took the liberty of visiting you all of a sudden…I had to prepare even a small thing such as this.”

“Ehem.”

I greased my lips and smiled softly. It was my usual sales strategy. Lim Hyunsoo uselessly worried, then glanced at the sake and sat down in the lobby. 

“You must’ve had a hard time getting this, so it would be rude if I threw it away. I can spare five minutes.”

“Thank you.”

Done. The first half was finished.

“So, why did you come to me? You…”

“Seo Hoyoon.”

“Yes, Seo Hoyoon. Why are you here?”

Yes, I figured this question would come up.

“I’m an idol. We’re preparing for our comeback.”

Heh, Lim Hyunsoo laughed.

“Right, an idol…”

There was a subtle ridicule in that wary gaze of his, unsure of who I was. I shouldn’t have been the only one to have come so suddenly like this for the same reason.

Lim Hyunsoo was a guaranteed box office check. There were many idols who desperately wanted to grab onto the hem of his pants.

“You say your name is Seo Hoyoon? I’ve never heard of you.”

“It was a new project started by Daepasong, an actor management agency, so we still lack a lot of push for idols. I think it’s natural that the composer has never heard of me.”

“Yeah, it must be hard.”

He said so, but Lim Hyunsoo was already ignoring me. Lim Hyunsoo, who slowly crossed his legs, looked at me.

“So, why did you come to me?”

The only thing I liked about Lim Hyunsoo was that he got to the point.

I smiled.

“I’m here to ask you to write a song for us.”

“Hahaha!”

Lim Hyunsoo laughed. It was a reaction that didn’t exceed my expectations. I waited silently for him to stop laughing.

“Good grief, idols these days sure are amazing. Neither the manager nor the agency contacted me but the idols themselves…”

“That’s how charming your songs are.”

“Look here, Mr. Seo Hoyoon. I know exactly what kind of delusion is going through your head right now. Do you really think that if you believe in something and hang on to it, you can become successful? You’re not the first person to have come to me like this.”

I just listened to him quietly. Lim Hyunsoo stood up and flicked his nails as if it was a waste of time.

“You watch too many dramas. Get out of here.”

This was the reaction I had expected so far. However, from now on and in the future, Lim Hyunsoo will not be able to predict mine.

“Do you want to drink?”

“What? With me?”

“No. The name of your song.”

It wasn’t that I had suddenly turned crazy and asked Lim Hyunsoo to have a drink with me.

‘Do You Want to Drink’ was the song Lim Hyunsoo released a year ago that dominated the charts. It had a simple melody and beat for a song from someone like Lim Hyunsoo, but he still took first place and was told he was a genius composer.

But this wasn’t actually the case.

“Go to the Moon.”

“W, why are you…”

“Between You and I, Let’s Stop, Be the Monster, and so on…”

I recited them one by one. People who heard it for the first time would wonder what I was talking about. And if it weren’t for Lim Hyunsoo and me, it would be impossible to understand it.

However, Lim Hyunsoo’s complexion was gradually turning blue.

“These songs have three things in common. The first is that they are all composed by Blue Tiger or Lim Hyunsoo. The second is that they all swept the top five on the charts.”

And I lifted a third finger.

“Finally, they’re all a product of sajaegi.” 

“W, what are you talking about?”

Oho, Lim Hyunsoo was playing dumb.

But I would never let him get away.

“C, come on, what are you talking about so suddenly…”

I took out my tablet. Really, really fortunately, apart from my files that had disappeared, there was still some data left. I held it out and smiled.

“This is the account transaction between the singer’s agency and the sajaegi broker. Ah, wait. Sometimes the singer even dealt with the composer themselves.”

Lim Hyunsoo accepted the tablet with trembling hands. And soon clenched his teeth.

“How do you have this?”

Lim Hyunsoo asked quietly. It was a sign of acknowledgement.

“Ey, is that what’s important right now?”

“Ha, haha… You’re pretty great, aren’t you? Do you have any journalist relatives?”

Lim Hyunsoo trembled and pulled up the corner of his mouth. It seemed that he wasn’t fully discouraged yet. He stared at me for a long time.

“Why did you do sajaegi? You have good skills.”

“….So?”

Oh, my.

“So what?”

“…..”

“I was caught up in misfortune.”

Oh, he was coming off stronger than I thought. I scratched my chin and shrugged, looking back at him.

“I’ll admit that you’re pretty good at this thing. I don’t know how you found out about this, but… sajaegi? I don’t know how to do that, and even if I did, it’s no big deal for me.”

He raised his chin shamelessly.

“How many singers have brazenly continued to release music even after doing sajaegi? Do you think I’ll experience problems even if I get caught?”

That was true. Lim Hyunsoo looked around to see if I was recording. When he realized I wasn’t, he waved his hand.

“Stop it. Don’t tire yourself out for nothing.”

“What should I do? I want to be more tired.”

“What?”

Let’s speak understandable words.

“I didn’t bring just that one.”

Lim Hyunsoo paused at my words and stiffened.

“Flip the tablet screen.”

“…”

“Hurry up.”

I beckoned him with a kind smile. Lim Hyunsoo was shaking from nervousness, but he couldn’t overcome his curiosity and flipped the tablet over. There was a song playing.

Last year, there was a song by a male idol that won first place. It was composed by Blue Tiger.

“This song was chosen really well.”

That was the only thing I said, but Lim Hyunsoo threw the tablet against the corner of the desk. With how hard he swung it, the screen immediately cracked and turned into junk that looked like it had been used for about 10 years in an instant. This person didn’t know how much money he was wasting.

“My tablet.”

“You, fu, fuck… This…”

Lim Hyunsoo’s face turned pale. I turned to look at his expression happily.

“How do you have this?!”

The song that was playing from the tablet earlier wasn’t written by Blue Tiger.

“This song was composed by a guitarist from an unknown indie band.”

That’s right.

Lim Hyunsoo plagiarized.

“You, you…!”

“You met the composer several times at a drinking party. Was it in Hapjeong? You met them two or three times at an izakaya, and then they handed you the USB.” 

As I spoke smoothly like I was there myself, Lim Hyunsoo trembled, looking like he was staring at a ghost.

“Sajaegi, yes… You might get away with it as if it was nothing, as if you were just caught up in it.”

“…..”

“But what about plagiarism? As soon as word gets out about this, people will understand right away if they aren’t fools. Everyone will talk.”

“S, stop it.”

I clapped.

“Aha, Blue Tiger plagiarized!”

Lim Hyunsoo looked like he was going to strangle me at any moment.

Ah, I’m so pleased.

I didn’t know that working on that interview program would be so rewarding. How fortunate was I to be the assistant director in charge of the theme sajaegi. And how fortunate it was that Lim Hyunsoo was still alive in my reality!

[Are you actually trash?]

‘Don’t ruin the mood.’

This was an opportunity that God gave because he pitied me, to be able to threaten Lim Hyunsoo, who was trembling in front of me, wondering how I got this information.

[Excuse me, but wasn’t it someone else who got plagiarized?]

I’m sorry, but I’m also in a hurry.

I lowered my eyebrows as if I felt really sorry for him. I deliberately chose words that affected Lim Hyunsoo.

“What should we do, our dear composer? I heard you’re working on a White Cherry song right now. And you also worked on some ballad songs… If a plagiarism controversy arises, you’ll have to pay a huge penalty.”

Let’s see what kind of reaction he shows.

Will you scream right now? Or will you call my bluff? Or will you strangle me?

It didn’t matter what he did. But the last one is a bit scary, so let’s call the police if that happens.

No, I knew Lim Hyunsoo well.

Just like Lim Hyunsoo, I flicked my nails and asked softly.

“You’ve become quiet all of a sudden…”

Three,

“Should I get going?”

Two,

“You must be very busy.”

One.

I was about to get up. Lim Hyunsoo grabbed my arm.

“Wait.”

“Yes?”

“What do you want?”

Ah, this was why I liked Lim Hyunsoo.

He had the ability to quickly adapt to reality. I grinned.

“Ey~ Composer, you’re trying to eat it raw too much. Do I have to give you the answer, too?”

“…..”

“You have to think about it yourself. Yes?”

Ring!

[Mr. Seo Hoyoon, are you the devil?]

I was a little annoyed about the broken tablet so I flicked it once.